“I just can’t!” The theory of learned helplessness and what it has to do with the COVID-19 Pandemic

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

If you have watched the movie Django, then you will be familiar with this scene.

Django had just killed the slave traders who had a group of men locked up in a cage. After the slave traders were killed, the gate that held the African American men was opened, but instead of trying to escape, the men sat in there, looking outside. The look bewildered, scared. Freedom was a step away, but it was almost like they didn’t know what to do with it.

In my mind, they were having this internal dialogue,

“Oh, it’s unlocked? I didn’t check.”

“Why bother? They’ll probably catch me before I get out.”

“Even if I get away, they’ll just find me and bring me back here. Might as well just stay put.”

When I was watching the movie, I was confused. They were free. The slave owners were dead, all they had to do was leave.

As much as that seemed like an easy thing to do, researchers have known for years that the there is a mechanism that can effectively lock people in their own mental prisons.

Readers may not know, but all of my educational background is in the science of psychology. Psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour and mental processes. It has existed since the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece, mostly as a branch of philosophy, but broke out as an independent branch of scientific study in the 1870s.

The primary modern applications for psychology revolve around protecting you from emotional and physical harm as well as providing you with the necessary tools to handle the psychological perils we face daily.

However, there is a side of psychology, which easily qualifies as a ‘dark art.’ There have been those who have sought to learn how to modify behaviour in ways that manipulate. Modern psychology and psychiatry can and has been used to sway opinions and behaviour through deception. It has been used to get people to buy things they wouldn’t naturally desire (and cannot afford), and to be happy in situations that SHOULD naturally cause unhappiness.

For years scientists have attempted to learn what could make masses of people obey the will of a man like Adolf Hitler, and in doing so, have learned things, which could easily empower another madman to get people to do the same or worse.

Today, let’s explore how the global community, and the citizens of Canada have been conditioned into a (false) sense of helplessness, and — more important by far — what you can do to break that conditioning.

What is Learned Helplessness?
Learned helplessness is a behavioural trait where a person feels he/she has lost control over aversive circumstances (COVID-19 Protocols), when actually, it is just a biased perception or conditioned behaviour. In simple words, it is a behavioral trait where an individual (or organism) accepts his or her pain, physical/psychological abuse, victimization, or any other aversive problem as an unavoidable and uncontrollable circumstance, even if it is escapable.

The theory of learned helplessness, when applied to humans, implies that psychological illnesses like depression may occur due to a perceived absence of control over the resultant effects of a situation in future. It is a cycle, where an individual experiences undesirable or aversive events (lockdowns, mask wearing, social distancing), develops a ‘perceived’ lack of control over such events (stay-at-home order), and later leads to a firm belief of helplessness regarding such events. Learned helplessness is characterized by phobias, depressions, and negative emotions like sadness, anxiety, frustration, low self-esteem, and lack of motivation.

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Before you continue reading, I want you to take a moment to look at the checklist. How many of the experiences on the list are you able to check off?

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What can be taken from this is that it certainly is possible to create the conditions to break someone’s will. Let’s take a look at a couple examples.

As Canadian citizens, we take part in the functioning of the country’s political system through voting. We elect our representatives or leaders in expectation of fulfilment of our needs. After casting their ballot for a considerable time period, if we find out that no promises have been kept, or no progress has been made on crucial issues, we get discouraged to vote. This is learned helplessness. The general attitude of “How does it matter anyway?” begins to creep in.

Another example is that of a child who is frequently beaten up at home as a punishment for every mistake he makes. The child might initially try to resist the parents by screaming and crying, or even hitting them back. However, if he gets hit more on protesting, it would gradually make him numb to the beating. The child will begin to think that he has no control over the scenario, nor will he or she fight back or try to escape. This increases the compliance to the abuse, which may become a routine.

When I review the two situations, I can’t help but think about what is happening during this pandemic. As a nation, we have lost so much, yet for some reason, we sit passively, fearful about a virus that only truly affects 0.001% of the population.

Psychology can alleviate so much suffering when used carefully, but it can also be weaponized by the misguided, greedy, and evil people who want to manipulate others for their own pleasure.

We have to find a way to take back control of our lives. Our priority has to be those things that are within our control. Where and how we live; what we spend our time, money and energy doing; who we spend our time with; how we provide the necessities for our family; the type of community that we live in. These are all things that we have a direct influence on.

Community, if we start exercising our power and exert that influence (however slight), we can train ourselves into a situation that is not hopeless.